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fishery observer News

Collectively, the fisheries certified since our last newsletter bring an estimated additional 880,000 tonnes of fish into the market with the potential to carry the MSC label. They include whitefish, shellfish, herring form several fisheries and toothfish. Whitefish certifications welcomed by buyers The ...

Operating rules for European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) aid to help fishermen to comply with new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) requirements were endorsed by Parliament on Wednesday. EMFF aid will help fishermen to observe the discard ban, e.g. by buying more selective fishing gear, but will also be used to improve safety and working conditions, data collection and port infrastructure. All ...

The Watersmeet and Glenthorne fishery on Exmoor's River Lyn is to remain closed until the end of the 2013 season to safeguard salmon and sea trout stocks. The Environment Agency closed the fishery on July 12 following a higher than normal number of fish deaths due to disease. The action was taken to reduce stress on remaining fish and ensure as many as possible successfully spawn later this year. ...

The survey, which took place from late September until early November, was carried out on behalf of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to assess the status of blue cod stocks in the region. It included the Queen Charlotte Sound, Pelorus Sound, D'Urville Island and Point Underwood to the northern tip of Arapawa Island, including the Brothers Islands. For the first time NIWA fishery ...

Reforms to reduce discards of over-quota fish catches are generally predicted to have positive effects on marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Although concerns have been raised over the impacts of the changes on scavenging seabirds who feed upon discarded fish, new research on gannets indicates that, while they often forage near fishing vessels, more than half their time is spent foraging ...

Unreliable catch data, inspections of limited effectiveness, systems for following up infringements and imposing sanctions that are often inappropriate, and all of this in a context of overcapacity which jeopardises compliance with the rules: these are the main findings of the European Court of Auditors in its latest Special Report on fishing in Community waters. The multiple shortcomings that it ...

On the first-ever UN World Oceans Day FAO has published a set of technical guidelines aimed at helping the fisheries sector reduce its impacts on fragile deep-sea fish species and ecosystems. The guidelines provide a framework that countries can use, individually and in the context of regional fisheries management organizations, to manage deep sea fisheries (DSF) in high-seas areas outside of ...

A group of women stands alongside the roads leaving Gambia"s capital city of Banjul, offering up oysters for 15 dalasis a cup, or about 55 cents for approximately 75 pieces of oyster meat. These women have been harvesting oysters from the extensive mangrove wetlands of Gambia for decades. Much of the harvesting is concentrated in Tanbi National Park, a wetland listed by the Convention on Wetlands ...

Leakage of radioactive material from the wreck of the nuclear submarine K-159 in the Barents Sea could increase levels of radioactivity in local populations of cod by a hundred times, new research suggests. However, this level remains well below ‘safe’ standards set by the Norwegian government. Global fallout from nuclear weapons, dumping of radioactive waste and sunken nuclear ...

HALIFAX, CANADA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/24/10 -- The meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, which concluded today, left conservation organizations disappointed with the failure of NAFO countries to live up to their international commitments to protect the high seas. In 2006, they all agreed through a United Nations General Assembly resolution to conduct environmental impact ...

The Agriculture & Fisheries Council will meet in Brussels on Monday 26 (starting at 11 a.m.) and Tuesday 27 November, under the Presidency of Mr Jaime Silva, Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. Commissioners Mariann Fischer Boel (Agriculture and Rural Development) and Joe Borg (Fisheries and Maritime Affairs) will represent the Commission at the meeting. Ministers are ...

Demonstrating a continuous commitment to sustainable fishing practices, the Ocean Choice International (OCI) Grand Bank Yellowtail Flounder Fishery has been re-certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fishery Standard as being sustainable and well managed. ...

Fish catches will need to increase by only 3.4 per cent to meet global dietary demand in 2050, according to a study predicting how climate change will affect marine ecosystems. The authors warn that achieving this will require the wider implementation of sustainable ...

USSEC recently met with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) in Diliman, Quezon City to learn their plans and program for the country’s aquaculture sector over the next five years. The head of the Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Division presented the newly approved “Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry ...

Draft rules for allocating European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), aid to help fishermen to comply with new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) requirements were approved by a show of hands in Parliament on Wednesday. This aid will help fishermen to comply with the discard ban, e.g. by buying more selective fishing gear, but will also be used to improve safety and working conditions, data ...

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) has awarded certification to the Gulf of California Pacific Sardine fishery in Mexico under the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries. The Gulf of California sardine fishery is Mexico’s largest fishery by volume. In the ...

Outcome strengthened as a result of the objection Independent Adjudicator (IA) Michael Lodge released his final decision today in the objection filed by the At-sea Processors Association (APA) in the Russia Sea of Okhotsk pollock fishery. He accepted the responses of the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB), clearing the way for the fishery to be certified to the MSC standard as a sustainable ...

South Africa’s hake trawl fishery is celebrating 11 years of MSC certification, following the announcement of a third successful assessment. In 2004 the fishery became the first hake fishery in the world, and the second groundfish ...

The world’s largest tuna fishery, the PNA skipjack tuna free school purse seine fishery, will be delivering the MSC labelled skipjack tuna from the Pacific into Europe in November 2013. Austrian retailer, SPAR, are the first to offer MSC labelled canned skipjack tuna from the Central and Western Pacific oceans where the MSC certified sustainable Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) skipjack ...